From 2004-2006, I organized a series of large-scale public art events in which I invoked the aesthetic vernacular of American Civil War battle reenactment as a stage set for a polyphonic marshaling of voices in my artistic and intellectual communities. Instead of pitting two sides against each other or reenacting a battle for which the outcome was already known, I organized these events around the question “What are you fighting for?” and called the project The Muster, a military term meaning a gathering of the troops for the purposes of inspection, critique, exercise and display. In 2004, the project took place on the 96-acre wooded property of artists Mark Dion and J. Morgan Puett in Beach Lake, Pennsylvania. Approximately 75 enlisted participants fashioned uniforms, built campsites, and declared their causes in a formal roll call, which I called The Declaration of Causes. I directed but did not script the event, so that its outcome was only revealed at The Muster itself.

The Muster 2004
S U N N Y  A.  S M I T H  The Muster 2004 Fighting for Trench Art
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Allison Smith (Mustering Officer)
2004
Fighting for Trench Art
Photo by Bob Braine

Mildred's Lane, Beach Lake, Pennsylvania
S U N N Y  A.  S M I T H  The Muster 2004
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Mustering Officer's Field Desk
2004

"Hello Chelsea," Bellwether, New York. Collection of Arario Gallery, Cheonan, South Korea. Photo credit Bellwether.

S U N N Y  A.  S M I T H  The Muster 2004
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Mustering Officer's Field Desk
2004

"Hello Chelsea," Bellwether, New York. Collection of Arario Gallery, Cheonan, South Korea. Photo credit Bellwether.
S U N N Y  A.  S M I T H  The Muster 2004 Fighting for The Land
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Mark Dion (General Mayhem)
2004
Fighting for The Land
Photo by Bob Braine

Mildred's Lane, Beach Lake, Pennsylvania

S U N N Y  A.  S M I T H  The Muster 2004 Photo by Bob Braine
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J. Morgan Puett (Gone AWOL)
2004
Photo by Bob Braine

Mildred's Lane, Beach Lake, Pennsylvania
S U N N Y  A.  S M I T H  The Muster 2004 Fighting for the Right to Denounce Your Bad Ancestors
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Josiah McElheny (Pamphleteer)
2004
Fighting for the Right to Denounce Your Bad Ancestors
Photo by Bob Braine

Mildred's Lane, Beach Lake, Pennsylvania

S U N N Y  A.  S M I T H  The Muster 2004 Photo by Bob Braine
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Adam Putnam (The Ghost of Abe Lincoln)
2004
Photo by Bob Braine

Mildred's Lane, Beach Lake, Pennsylvania
S U N N Y  A.  S M I T H  The Muster 2004 Fighting for the Happiness of Mortals
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Amy Yoes (The Happiness of Mortals)
2004
Fighting for the Happiness of Mortals
Photo by Bob Braine

Mildred's Lane, Beach Lake, Pennsylvania

S U N N Y  A.  S M I T H  The Muster 2004
P R O J E C T S ,  article artwork image 20
Mustering Officer's Campsite
2004

Mildred's Lane, Beach Lake, Pennsylvania. Collection of Arario Gallery, Cheonan, South Korea. Photo credit Bob Braine.
S U N N Y  A.  S M I T H  The Muster 2004
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Mustering Officer's Campsite
2004

Mildred's Lane, Beach Lake, Pennsylvania. Also exhibited in the 2004 Armory Show, Bellwether booth. Photo credit Bob Braine.

S U N N Y  A.  S M I T H  The Muster 2004 gouache on handmade paper
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Stack-Arms
2004
gouache on handmade paper
6x9"

Study for a sculpture of the same name, featuring wool hooked rug, carved wood guns, and cloth pocket with painted bandana pattern. Photo credit Allison Smith.
S U N N Y  A.  S M I T H  The Muster 2004 Gouache on paper, 1 of 2.
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George Washington's Masonic Apron
2002
Gouache on paper, 1 of 2.

Photo Credit Liz Deschenes.

S U N N Y  A.  S M I T H  The Muster 2004 Gouache on paper
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Allison Smith's Muster Apron
2006
Gouache on paper